We're a globe-trotting nation these days – there's not many folk who have not set foot on foreign shores at one time or another.
But we don't bother too much about the abilities of police and back-up organisations of those foreign countries we travel to – until something goes wrong.
Take the tragic case of the abduction of little Madeleine McCann. How competent were the Por
tuguese police to handle such a complex case?
How much better would it have been a team of British police instantly flew to Portugal and worked alongside the local police to try to find her before the trail went cold?
And most recently we have the disgraceful situation of Scotland Yard top murder investigators being delayed from flying to Antigua to investigate the double killing of the honeymoon couple for three days, allowing vital clues to be lost.
Why? Because Home Office dim-wits were worried that if the murderer was caught he might face the death penalty.
Apparently, the Home office delayed sending detectives out until assurances were given by Antigua that anyone convicted would not face the death penalty.
The Home Office might be in for quite a shock if there was a referrendum on the restoration of the death penalty here!
We need international agreements so that police forces world-wide help each other on major crime without ridiculous delays, or stupid niceties which frustrate the job of catching murderers and finding abducted children.
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